


Restitution

by JohnAmendAll



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-18
Updated: 2012-08-18
Packaged: 2017-11-12 10:02:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/489642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JohnAmendAll/pseuds/JohnAmendAll
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One of the things the Ninth Doctor did, in those six seconds at the end of 'Rose'.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Restitution

He'd asked Rose to come with him, and she'd refused. Lucky for her. If she had agreed, she'd have been dead. The Time War might be officially over, but its debris still littered the Universe. No sooner had he taken off from the Powell Estate than the TARDIS had come under attack from a Mataron drone-ship, its robotic brain unaware that its creators had been wiped from existence subjective decades ago. He'd survived its assault. A human wouldn't have. 

That experience had made up his mind. Now and again, as he travelled to and fro knitting the timeline back together, he'd meet people who, in different circumstances, he'd have enjoyed travelling with. Each time, he forced himself to avoid them. Once or twice, he'd even run across people he knew, though of course with this face they didn't know him. He told himself that they were better off if things stayed that way. They should live their own lives, not throw them away on him. 

Then, once more on Earth, dealing with an abandoned time portal and a shipload of Yulosi scavengers, he found someone who had no life to live at all. 

  


Victoria rechecked the letter she'd received. She'd reached Ayr Station in good time, and, as instructed, was standing at the extreme South end of Platform Three. There were precious few people about, and most of them were sheltering under the awnings from the light drizzle. If any of them had noticed Victoria, they'd probably just wonder why she was standing there in the rain. She glanced at her watch again. If the letter was right, then in something like ten seconds– 

The air in front of her distorted, swirled, and disgorged a familiar dark-haired figure. 

"Jamie!" 

Jamie looked around, bewildered. He looked, Victoria thought, more like a person from history than she'd ever seen him before. Everything about him looked as if it belonged to the past, in a way it hadn't when she'd travelled with him in the TARDIS. 

"Where– Where'd he go?" he asked. "What is this place? And how d'ye ken my name?" 

Victoria, heedless of the rain, pulled the hood of her coat back so her face was clearly visible. 

"Jamie, it's me," she said. "Don't you recognise me?" 

For what felt like minutes, she waited for his answer, hope and worry contending in her heart. Whatever should she do, if he denied ever having known her? 

"Aye," Jamie eventually said. "Your name's... Victoria. Isn't it?" 

"Yes, Jamie, of course it is." 

"But where am I?" 

"The railway station at Ayr." 

"No, it canna be. I ken well enough what Ayr looks like. I was in prison there." 

"In prison?" 

"Aye, for fighting against King George. They were going to hang me." 

"That's terrible! How did you escape?" 

"It was this morning, before dawn. A man woke me. A tall fellow, in a black jacket, wi' big ears and no hair. He wasnae one of the other prisoners, or the guards. I'd swear I've never seen him before in my life. And behind him, the cell door was open." 

"'And the angel said unto him, Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals,'" Victoria murmured. 

"Aye, it was just like that story. Except this man had a... och, what was it called?" Jamie scratched his head. "A wee silver wand, wi' a light at one end." 

"A sonic screwdriver?" 

"That's what I meant. Now why couldn't I think of the name?" 

"I'm not sure what to make of all this." Victoria shook her head, and realised just how wet her hair was. "Come on. Let's get inside. Then I'll buy you something to eat and drink." 

"That'd be grand. You'd not like to hear about the food in that prison." Jamie suffered himself to be led down the platform. "But if this is Ayr, the Redcoats'll be out looking for me. I'll be wanting some kind of disguise." 

"You certainly will need new clothes." Victoria looked him up and down. "And a bath wouldn't come amiss. But you don't have to worry about being arrested." 

"Oh, why d'ye say that?" 

"Because this is the twentieth century. Come along, I'll explain..." 

  


"What time is it now?" Victoria asked, as they walked down the High Street. She could just as easily have looked at the Town Hall clock, but she found it much more satisfying to see Jamie proudly checking his new wristwatch. 

"About twenty past six." 

"I'm surprised you haven't yet asked when we're having dinner." 

"Aye, well, I've had a lot to think–" Jamie suddenly broke off, and spun round. 

"What's the matter?" Victoria asked, drawing closer to him. 

Jamie frowned. "I could have sworn somebody's following us. But I canna see anyone." 

"Is that why you've been looking over your shoulder all day?" 

"Aye." He took her arm, and they resumed their perambulation. "I'm sure it's nothing. There's more stuff in my head than I knew. This is going tae take a bit of getting used to. Where are we going now?" 

"We need to find somewhere to eat," Victoria said. "And then somewhere to spend the night. After that, I shall take you home with me, but it's too late to think about that today." 

"With you?" 

Victoria stopped walking and turned to face him. "You may stay with me for as long as you like. And I– I would be very happy if you did." 

She looked into his eyes, once more feeling the seconds drag out as she waited for his answer. 

  


From a doorway a little way down the street, the Doctor watched Jamie gather Victoria into his arms and kiss her. Once that image was fixed firmly in his mind, he turned away and set out for the TARDIS, crossing another task off his mental list. Out of the debris of the Time War, he'd managed to contrive a happy ending for two people he cared for. Or at least, as happy as it ever got for humans. 

A happy ending for him seemed as far away as ever. 


End file.
